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Fresh

The Tomatometer is 60% or higher.

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The Tomatometer is 59% or lower.

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Movie Info

French director Robert Bresson drew from his own experiences as a POW to fashion this story of a resistance leader who is imprisoned by the Nazis. The leader, with the help of his cellmate, successfully engineers an escape. The plot was inspired by the true story of Andre Devigny.

Watching a film like A Man Escaped"is like a lesson in the cinema. It teaches by demonstration all the sorts of things that are not necessary in a movie. By implication, it suggests most of the things we're accustomed to are superfluous.

It's coolly comforting to recall how the innocence that lay shattered in the wake of World War II wasn't America's alone - just as it's heartening to rediscover the improbable beauty within the bleak scenario of A Man Escaped.

Bresson is not interested in big emotions or catharsis (he doesn't even mind telling us the end of the film in the title) but rather drawn to details and method, and so he crafts a meticulous and tremendously absorbing classic that depicts each step taken by the protagonist to reach his objective.

Carlos Magalhães

Super Reviewer

Based on the true account of prisoner of war Andre Devigny, director and writer Robert Bresson recreated the isolation, intrigue, and tension of a prison break. Our hero, Fontaine, is played by Franncois Leterrier in his first ever acting role. His performance is particularly monotone, devoid of the emotion of a man on the very brink of death. This shows the calculation behind the plot he is hatching and his calm demeanor while under the Nazis' thumb. What makes the film especially amazing is the step by step processing in his creation of tools from his cell, including smashing lamps for grappling hooks, tearing up shirts for braided rope, and slowly chipping away at wooden hatches with a dull prison spoon. The film remains terse without a score, using silence often to its advantage in creating an often flexible sense of danger for the protagonist. Sound effects are pivotal in the climax and let us know about the action offscreen. Because this is a prison, that works well with the story, showing that prisoners aren't aware of the facets of the system around them. The Nazis aren't shown for their historical villainy, but more as simple captors for these mostly innocent prisoners of war, and the prison itself is more important towards their state of well-being than even the firing squads in the courtyard. It's really a very thorough prison break film and even in the end we worry for the sake of the twosome.

Spencer S.

Super Reviewer

Hands down one of the best prison escape movies ever made. Period.

Ken Stachnik

Super Reviewer

This is a really interesting movie I saw for a class, but I didn't get to see the end. It is really inventive with the sounds and cinematography. If that interests you, I highly recommend this movie.